1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adapter for connecting an IC card for a certain standard such as a CF (compact flash) card to a differently-standardized card slot such as a PC card slot. In particular, to an improved adapter which is advantageous in connecting an IC card with an antenna to a card slot for a different standard. Also, the present invention relates to an IC card with an antenna.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data transfer between two or more pieces of information equipment represented by a desktop personal computer or a notebook personal computer and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), conventionally, has been carried out through a cable data transmission system using a connecting cable. However, in the cable data transmission system, it takes time and labor to connect the cable and, in the data transmission, there is a limit on an arrangement of the information equipment. Therefore, recently, a wireless data transmission system has been proposed for mutual data transmission between plural pieces of the information equipment.
A typical method for realizing such wireless data transmission is to mount a PC card into a PC card slot of, for example, a notebook personal computer. In the case of the portable equipment such as a PDA, mostly, there is provided a CF card slot corresponding to a CF card which is smaller in size than the PC card. In this case, a CF card with an antenna may be used.
In the case of a user who owns both of the notebook computer and portable equipment, the user may use an adapter which can adapt the CF card to the PC card slot, so that the user can use the CF card with antenna in both of the notebook computer and portable equipment.
In the case of the CF card with an antenna, a long antenna is mounted on the CF card rear end face which, in a state where the CF card with an antenna is mounted into a CF card slot, faces outward of this CF card slot. Due to this structure, the antenna can be exposed from the CF card slot to thereby be able to secure a good communication condition.
However, when mounting the CF card with an antenna into the PC card slot using the adapter, in some cases, a good communication condition cannot be secured. This results mainly from the structure of the PC card slot of the notebook personal computer.
That is, the PC card slot of the notebook personal computer is generally structured such that the rear end face of the PC card is exposed from its body; however, depending on the type of the notebook personal computer, there is also employed a structure in which the rear end face of the PC card is stored in the PC card slot. In this case, the antenna of the CF card with an antenna cannot be sufficiently exposed from the body of the notebook personal computer, so that a good communication condition cannot be secured.
In view of the above, it may be expected to change the structure of the adapter in such a manner that the rear end face of the CF card with an antenna can be exposed regardless of the structure of the PC card slot. However, in this case, the adapter with the CF card with an antenna mounted thereon, as a whole, has a structure which does not comply with the standard of the PC card. Also, in the case of a notebook personal computer having a PC card slot which is structured so as to permit the exposure of the rear end face of a CF card, the rear end portion of the CF card is always projected from the body of the notebook personal computer. Therefore, this structure raises the following problems: that is, this structure degrades the appearance of the notebook personal computer, is inconvenient to store and carry the notebook personal computer, and is easy to receive shocks from the periphery to be thereby damaged easily.
Further, in the case of a PC card with an antenna structured such that an antenna is mounted on the rear end face thereof, there exist similar problems to the above.